A 62-year-old patient presents with difficulty hearing high-frequency sounds. The medical assistant is tasked with performing an audiometric exam. What is the primary purpose of using pure tone audiometry in this scenario?
To measure the patient's hearing sensitivity for standardized pitches and determine the threshold for hearing across a range of frequencies
To determine the patient's ability to perceive changes in the loudness of sounds across different frequencies
To evaluate the structural integrity of the patient's middle ear components, including the tympanic membrane and ossicles
To assess the patient's speech recognition threshold and ability to distinguish between speech sounds